Let me start off this post by saying…this should be worth more than 2 stars! It took me a very long time to do this so that the words of the songs matched one another at the end/start points. The songs I chose for this assignment are in my Spotify playlist and the process of picking them out was fairly simple. Connecting the songs by the words they had in common was a little tedious, but I did enjoy this assignment since it made me think of how the songs could somehow relate to each other. But my larger problem came with copyright. I remade my mashup at least 5 different ways and it was still subject to copyright according to SoundCloud, so it was removed every single time. This was extremely (emphasis on extremely!) frustrating. I fist tweeted about my frustrations to Professor Burtis and she was very helpful in the advice she gave me, which was to try different songs or try just posting onto this page. But she warned me of the risks I’d be taking if I were to just post, so I didn’t want to try it. I then asked one of my friends what to do and she told me to play with adjusting the pitch and it should be fine. And here we are…success! I also adjusted the tempos slightly in some of the songs, which gave it a faster pace which kind of grew on me. With the pitch, I only adjusted it by one point and it still sounded nice for me. Since I did struggle through this ongoing copyright issue, I began to understand it a bit more. Personally, I have never had a copyright issue happen to me so this was definitely a first, and hopefully only time this will happen to me. In my mind after the copyright readings, I thought one could use the songs if they were using them in a new, innovative way, but Sound Cloud stated that as an invalid reason, so I did not dispute the claims.
But as for the mash-up of songs, here is the layout…
These songs are from the 2000s-present and represent how Sebastian views himself and how others view him. I felt like breaking away from the 1950s time period I placed him in to show how the experiences he goes through and how others view him are understandable and tangible to our current times. Each of the songs can directly connect to Sebastian’s internal views of himself and situations he finds himself in as well as how others view him.
1.“Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse- how Sebastian felt for Margaret, his ex-lover, when he was with her. He was “a fool” for her as one of the lyrics lends to and she set his soul alight,” meaning that she enchanted him in this way that brought his soul to life. This song illustrates how she drove him crazy at times, but he still loved her so intensely.
2.“Womanizer” by Britney Spears- how most women view Sebastian since he refuses to settle down; he is viewed as a player, but women still come to him knowing that he may not ever contact them after their one-night together. He does not mean to treat women in this manner since he knows nothing serious will come of them, but women view him as a womanizer all the same.
3.“I Don’t Care” by Fall Out Boy- how he tends to think of himself and does not pay mind to others’ opinions and if he does, it is only internally. Also can lend to his frequent egotistical attitude he can hold. Sebastian holds himself with high regard and some of his actions may be selfish, but he is willing to do what ever it takes to preserve himself, even if that means stepping on others’ toes.
4.“Love Me Again” by John Newman- how Sebastian wants a love like he had with Margaret again; he wants to be loved and love again soon, but is fearful of it because of his bad experience. In ways, he wants Margaret to be his again so he can feel that love he had before, but he knows how wrong it is to feel that way about someone who hurt him so badly.
5.“Undisclosed Desires” by Muse- how Sebastian views Sasha Kellogg: he wants to know what’s under the surface and he is deeply attracted to her. Sebastian senses that she has “demons” in her past and is evermore curious about Sasha since she is not the most open book about who she was and is now. Sebastian is intrigued by her because of her mysterious demeanor and this song can truly describe that tension between them.
6.“Afraid” by The Neighbourhood- how Sebastian is afraid that his dark side will consume him. He does not want to become someone who is loathed and this can even apply to his drinking habits since he drinks frequently, and therefore, fears he will become like his father in this way. Also the line “you make me wanna die” is how John Reeves (the man he publicly shamed) feels when he thinks of Sebastian or encounters him.
7.“Into the Past” by Nero- how Sasha Kellogg wants to know about Sebastian’s past so she can understand him and be with him now. This song was featured in “The Great Gatsby,” which alluded to the quote, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” With this idea of going into the past, it can also represent how Sebastian is somewhat consumed by his past since the fears he does have reflect his painful past; he relives his past when he can’t fully trust in someone because he has been physically and emotionally broken in the past and has not fully recovered. It was mainly with his mother’s departure, his father’s drunken beatings, and Margaret’s cheating habits that affected him so. He does not feel far from his past, even though his father and him began to mend their relationship and he is not involved with Margaret (he still has not heard from his mother). With regards to Donny, his younger brother who was enlisted in war and now has paralysis, he feels responsible for that injury since he could not go in his place because of his fractured shoulder from his father’s past rage.
8.“Do I Wanna Know” by The Arctic Monkeys- how Sebastian catches himself wanting Margaret back and he knows she wants him too, but he will not crawl back to the woman who cheated on him. This is a story I want to touch on in a writing section in the future to demonstrate how complicated Sebastian’s mind is when it comes to her. She remains a puzzle to him because he can’t fully believe she would hurt him the way she did and dreams about if things were different.
